Government, Regional Agencies & Academic Institutions

Economic and demographic changes will transform the Indian education system over the next decade. By 2020, India will be the world’s third largest economy, with a correspondingly rapid growth in the size of its middle classes. Over 50% of India’s population is currently under 25 years old; by 2020 India will outpace China as the country with the largest tertiary-age population. This change will affect all segments of the market, including primary, secondary, and tertiary and vocational training and education.

The higher education sector in particular, is looking for international partners to address three broad challenges:

The supply-demand gap: India has a low rate of enrolment in higher education, at only 18%, compared with 26% in China and 36% in Brazil. By 2020, the Indian government aims to achieve 30% gross enrolment, which will mean providing 40 million university places, an increase of 14 million in six years

The low quality of teaching and learning: The system faces issues of quality in many of its institutions: a chronic shortage of faculty, poor quality teaching, outdated and rigid curricula and pedagogy, lack of accountability and quality assurance and separation of research and teaching

Constraints on research capacity and innovation: With a very low level of PhD enrolment, India does not have enough high quality researchers; there are few opportunities for interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary working, lack of early stage research experience; a weak ecosystem for innovation, and low levels of industry engagement